On February 3, 1972, the sporting world learned that Dick Enright, 37, an Oregon assistant coach with just two years of college experience under the recently departed Jerry Frei, had been named head coach. Enright signed a one-year contract for $22,500 — state regulations only allowed University contract employees to be hired on annual contracts, but UO Athletic Director Norv Ritchey assured Enright, and the public, that Enright had a “four year commitment.” Thus ended one of the more bizarre “searches” in the long history of college football at Oregon.